Proto-Toki-Pona
Proto-Toki-Pona is a hypothetical proto-language spoken in Akizreth. Being a reconstruction, none of the content of this language is certain. Presented here is linguists' best guess at the language. Phonology Consonants It should be noted that gemination is phonemic in all consonants. /q/ is available ungeminated, though this is rarely seen except in place names (such as Taqur) and a small selection of other loanwords. Vowels Script Proto-Toki-Pona is not written. Writing first appeared extremely late into the disappearance of the language. Phonotactics All syllables are of the form ©V(S), where C is a consonant, V is a vowel, and S is a plain plosive. Stress is always on the first syllable of a word. Grammar Nouns Nouns inflect for case, root form and type. The accusative suffix is formed from the nominative suffix by gemination. Note that an equivalent to the prefix ex- on a plain noun can be formed through voicing of the suffix. Verbs Verbs form the participle of through gemination of the suffix. They inflect for aspect and root type. Modifiers Modifiers inflect for aspect and root type. Syntax Northern dialects tend to be head-initial, while southern dialects tend to be head-final. has prepositions. These govern the nominative unless indicating motion, in which case the accusative they govern. Negation is performed using the standard negative word alla-. Word Order The word order is typically as follows: (Subclause) (Interjection) (Subject) Predicate. This is inflexible except for the fact that the predicate and subject may be interchanged. An interjection can be either lexical (e.g. a, mu) or vocative (i.e. a noun in the vocative). Vocatives are cased in the accusative. As for the predicate, it is as follows: (Object) Verb Phrase (Prepositional Phrase/s). The verb and object may be inverted, and usually are if the core verb is lug (n root) or i (null root). Noun and Verb Phrases Both noun and verb phrases consist of a head, which is the type of phrase (i.e. a verb or noun). This can be followed or proceeded (depending on dialect) by modifiers. These can be bound by pi (see below) to create more precise blocks of information. Vocabulary A copy of the lexicon in an 'in progress' form can be found at this website. Names In Proto-Toki-Pona, names are never used. In order to refer to an individual, one uses a combination of nicknames, pronouns and titles. Titles are used alone when one has a specific relationship with the addressee e.g. teacher/student, master/slave, parent/child, writer/reader etc. If a title would be ambiguous, it is combined with a nickname. An example might be (using English translations) 'teacher shorty' or 'slave long-nose'. Though these sound offensive to us, they are considered quite acceptable in Proto-Toki-Ponan, provided one avoids using the nickname unnecessarily. Finally, if no title is available, or one is referring to oneself, another method is used. In the 1st and 2nd persons, pronouns are used . In the third person, nicknames alone are employed. The 3rd person pronouns are used only when context makes it clear to whom the reference is made and no title is available. Diminuitives forms dimiuitives through reduplication of the root. They are used to indicate either affection towards the referent or smallness in size of it. Category:Languages Category:Akizreth